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PART FOUR. CHROMO EDITION. 



RAISING 



FOWLS AND EGGS 



IN QUANTITY 



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FOR MARKET, 



HOW TO DO IT. 



By GEO. P. BURNHAM. 



WITH DRAWINGS OF ECONOMICAL 



FOWL HOUSES, YARDS AND RUNS. 



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MELROSE, MASS. 

1877. 

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PREFACE. .:£,1t.5 



The numerous letters I have received from all quarters of the coun- 
try latterly, urging me to prepare a book upon the subject which forms 
the topic of this present treatise — together with the fact that I have 
been applied to so frequently for similar information by parties whom 
I could not find time to reply to, individually, as I wished, are the rea- 
sons why I publish this little volume on " Raising Fowls and Eggs 

IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKETING PURPOSES." 

The pages which follow will be found to embrace the paper I wrote a 
few years since at the request of the U. S. Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture, at Washington — and which appeared in the official Report of that 
Department, subsequently. 

I\Iy chief object in putting forth this treatise at the present time is to 
conveniently and fully answer the scores of letters which constantly 
reach me, enquiring, " Does fowl-raising in the ordinary manner 
pay ? " or " Can a man keep 500 or 1000 fowls of the common kinds 
to advantage, upon a single farm or estate ? And if so, will you in- 
form me how it is done ? " 

These queries I have now answered, in the accompanying book. 
The main article to which I have made reference above, has been care- 
fully revised, though in substance it is very little changed ; since it was 
the practical experience of the author at a time when he was experi- 
menting largely, with a view to learning for himself what could be 
accomplished in this direction. 

Innumerable instances could be cited where fowl-keeping on a lesser 
scale than this has proved profitable. The business may be made to 
pay in any quantity, if properly and judiciously conducted. But not 
otherwise. And I have endeavored in concise language and as briefly 
as I could, in these pages, to show the interested reader how to do it. 

For some of the illustrations of practical fowl-houses used in this 
work, I am indebted to the courtesy of II. II. Stoddard, Esq., of the 
Poultry World, Hartford, where they were originally published. 
This excellent monthly magazine I commend to all ijoultryraeu who are 
not already among its patrons. It is universally admitted to be the 
ablest edited, the best illustrated, and the handsomest printed poultry 
journal in this or any other country. * 

My readers are now referred to the subject I have chosen for this 
volume, with the confident assurance that if they will follow the sug- 
gestions herein made, with due care and judgment, they may raise fowls 
and eggs for market to any reasonable extent, successfully, and to 
profit — as I have done. 

Geo. p. Burnham. 

Melrose, March, 1877. 



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Ui 




PEA-COMB PARTRIDGE COCHIKS. 

2:^=" My patrons will be supplied witli this stock direct from the original 
breeder's yards — and I am able to assure all who fimcy these fine fowls, that I 
can furnish them with the very choicest of this variety — or with Eggs for 
incubation, in the hatching season, from superior selected birds. 

The following editorial in Stoddard's "Potjltry World" for March 1877, 
describes this now established and popular variety, quite accurately. 

" The Pea-Combed Partridge Cochins, which were originated by C H. Edmonds, 
of Melrose, Mass., and which were two years ago admitted by the American Poultry As- 
sociation to recognition in the new Standard as a distinct breed, have proved a valuable 
acquisition to the American varieties, and are now coming to be much sought after by 
amateurs and fanciers. 

During our attendance at the last exhibition of the Massachusetts Society, at Music 
Hall, Boston, we examined the line samples there sliown by Mr. Edmonds, and feeling 
desirous to see this breeder's flocks at home also, we visited Melrose for this purpose. We 
can vouch for the fact that no liner lot of Partridge Cochins than these birds, as a whole, 
ever fell under our notice. 

They are closely bred to color, even size, ample weight, _and general good characteris- 
tics; and we are happy to state that Mr. Edmonds's efforts liave proved a success. His 
breeding of the pea-comb on this variety is now fairly and fully established, and quite as 
many of his chickens, for the last two or three years have shown this feature, as are 
ordinarily bred upon the Brahmas of to day. 

During the coining season Mr. Edmonds expects still further to improve his stock ; and 
he is entitled to a full measure, of credit for having accomplished what he undertook to 
carry out, some six years ago, througli steady and systematic management, and, first and 
last, at cost of no little time, labor and money. 

Ihere is a great advantage in the pea-eonib for our Northern states, as compared with 
the single comb of the other varieties of Cochins. Single combs are very apt to freeze in 
severe weather, as most of our readers well know." 



PREFACE TO CIIROMO EDITION. 

The present edition of " Raisixg Fowls and Eggs in quantity for 
Market" is enlarged upon the original editions, by the addition of several 
pages of important illustrated matter at the end of this book. 

The Chapter thus added upon " Successful Artificial Incubation" (see 
pages 38 and forward) comprises a most interesting account of the colos- 
sal poultry establishment of W. C. Baker, Esq., at Cresskill-on-the-Hud- 
son ; about the esistencd of which the author had no idea, when he 
first wrote this treatise. 

There is also now presented in the 50 cent edition of this work a 
beautiful CmtOMO of Standard Brahmas, from theplate originally exe- 
cuted for The Poultry World, Hartford, Conn., which we consider 
an attractive and valuable addition to the book. The 2o cent edition 
(without the Chromo, or the additional article above mentioned), will 
be mailed, as heretofore, to all who prefer that little volume. 

In its present shape, we consider this treatise on "raising fowls and 
eggs for market" quite complete — and have no doubt that all who read 
it will admit that this Part TV, of our series of hand-books for poultry- 
men and farmers, at the popular price of 50 cents each, will be quite 

as acceptable as have proved its predecessors. 

Geo. p. Burnham. 
Melrose, Mass., June, 1877. 



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RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



HOW TO DO IT. 



Some wiseacre has affirmed that " a bird in the hand is 
worth two in the .bush." He is correct in this decision. We 
venture to paraphrase this ancient adage, and assume that a 
healthy hve chicken in the palm is worth more than two in 
the shell ! 

We commence this treatise with some brief ideas upon the 
best methods of hatching chickens, such as may prove valua- 
ble to the farmer or poulterer — always contending, as we do, 
and believing that incubation in the natural way is the preferable 
mode. That this plan is the very best for our purposes which 
can be adopted, (at least for the present in this country), we 
were years ago satisfied. 

The setting hen is surer, she hatches a greater percentage 
of chicks, and will in this climate, give us better, healthier, 
larger, and stronger young birds than can be produced through 
any other known process ; not excepting the Egyptian, the Chi- 

5 



fa RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

nese, the Assyrian, the English, or the Yankee methods of 
hatching by oven-heat, steam, alcohol, hot-beds, manure-tanks, 
or otherwise. 

Before we come to details in the process of hatching chickens 
under the natural mother, however, I propose to devote a few 
pages to artificial incubation, as it has been practiced for cen- 
turies (and very successfully) in other countries ; about which 
in the United States little is as yet known, and with which 
very little has ever yet been accomplished among our people, 
of a satisfactory character. 

Various -attempts have been made with modern "incuba- 
tors " — operated with fluids for heating. And several patents 
have been taken out in this country for these inventions, the 
originators of which have at times been more or less successful 
with them, in a moderate way. 

But the conclusion which one of the leading American pa- 
tentees arrived at, some years after he had faithfully experi- 
mented with and sold several of his Incubating machines, was 
candid and truthful. He frankly declared that modern poul- 
trymen had not educated themselves up to the details of this 
thing ; and that they did not and could not succeed with this 
process, because it required such nicety of manipulation and 
so peculiar a knowledge of scientific points in management, 
that only the person who contrived the machine was able to 
do anything with it that would remunerate him for the time 
rspent over it, the original cost, the expense of experimenting, 
and the first losses of good eggs that were inevitable in the be- 
ginner's experience. 

So he voluntarily stopped the sale of his incubators, not- 
withstanding the fact that he had himself been able to hatch 
out (and raise) from sixty to seventy-five per cent, of the chicks 
from eggs that he personally superintended the incubation of 
— and this on different occasions. Others, however, could not 
accomplish this, and it was given up. 

Such has been the fate generally of the inventions that have 
thus far been attempted for this business, in England or Amer- 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 7 

ica. In the hands of the originator, who clearly comprehends 
the intricacies of his machine, and who knows how to manage 
it, many chickens have been hatched. But our own view of 
this kind of invention is that they are too complicated, and too 
" scientific " in their construction, to be useful or profitable in 
the hands of the average unskilled poultry-breeder. 

And while due credit should always be accorded to such en- 
terprising inventors, the fact must not be overlooked, that, how- 
ever well they may themselves be able to manage their ma- 
chines, the e very-day fowl-breeder is not competent to the 
performance of a work which (as they are aware) has cost 
them years of toil, thought and study to master, and make 
themselves familiar with, in detail. 

We recently saw in the correspondence of a traveller who 
was sojourning in China, an account of a professional " egg- 
hatcher " of that countiy, which was quite novel. This opera- 
tor hatched ducks' eggs in great quantities in baskets, heated 
artificially from the bottom with hot stones or tiles suited to 
the purpose ; and, in his way, he was very successful. It is 
said there are numbers of these egg-hatchers to be met with 
in the interior, near Chinese large cities or commercial ports, 
and that they do a thriving trade in their vocation, in the early 
season of the year. 

In the instance referred to, the writer described this heathen 
operator as one of the greatest "lions " in Chusan where he 
saw him. He is an" old Chinaman who every Spring hatches 
thousands of ducks' eggs by artificial heat. He received me 
says this traveller, with Chinese politeness and offered me tea 
and his pipe, two things always at hand in a Chinese house, 
and perfectly indispensible. I asked permission to examine his 
hatching-house — to which he immediately led the way. 

The Chinese cottages, generally, are wretched buildings of 
mud and stone, with damp earthen floors, scarcely fit for cat- 
tle to sleep on, and remind one of what Scottish cottages were 
some years ago, but which now, happily, are among the things 
that were. The Chinaman's cottage was no exception to the 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 9 

general rule. Bad-fitting, loose, creaking doors; paper win- 
dows, dirty and torn, ducks, geese, fowls, dogs and pigs, in the 
house and at the doors, apparently having equal rightu with 
their masters. 

The hatching-house was built at the end of the cottage and 
was a kind of long shed, with mud walls and thickly thatched 
with straw. Along the ends and down one side of the build- 
ings are a number of round straw baskets, well plastered with 
mud, to prevent them from taking fire. In the bottom of each 
basket there was a tile placed, or rather the tile forms the 
bottom of the basket. Upon this the fire acts — a small fire- 
place being below each basket. Upon the top of each basket 
there is a straw cover, which fits closely, and which is kept 
shut while the hatching process is going on. In the centre of 
the shed are a number of large shelves placed one above the 
other, upon which the eggs are laid at a certain stage of the 
process. When the eggs are brought, they are put into the 
baskets, the fire is lighted below them, and a uniform heat 
kept up ; ranging, as nearly as I could ascertain by some ob- 
servations which I made with the thermometer, from 95 to 102 
degrees. But the Chinamen regulate the heat by their own 
feelings, and therefore it will, of course, vary considerably. 

In four or five days after the eggs have been subject to this 
temperature, they are taken carefully out, one by one, to a 
door in which a number of holes have been bored, nearly the 
size of the eggs ; they are then held against these holes, and 
the Chinamen look through them, and are able to tell whether 
they are good or not. If good, they are taken back and re- 
placed in their former quarters ; if bad, they are of course ex- 
cluded. In nine or ten daj^s after this — that is, about fourteen 
days from the commencement, the eggs are taken from the 
basket, and spread out on the shelves. Here no fire heat is 
applied, but they are covered over with cotton, and a kind 
of blanket, under which they remain about fourteen days 
more — when the young ducks burst their shells, and the shed 
teems with life. These shelves are large and capable of holding 



10 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

many thousands of eggs ; and when the hatching takes place, 
the sight is not a little curious. 

The natives who rear the young ducks in the surrounding 
country know exactly the day when they will be ready for re- 
moval ; and in two days after the shell is burst, the whole of 
the little creatures are sold and conveyed to their new quar- 
ters, where — with the natural heat of that hot climate, and 
proper attention to their needs, the ducks are subsequently 
raised to advantage, and are sold usually when a third or half 
grown, for the tables of the mandarins or the foreign resident 
merchants. 

This may answer in China. But such a method (even if 
we any of us understood it, which we do not), is quite im- 
practicable on this side of the water. The incubating processes 
of English and American inventors, as we have observed, 
proved failures — in the main — except by way of experiment, 
in the hands of the originators, themselves. And in spite of 
the utterly unwarrantable theory of such visionaries as Geo. C. 
Geyelin and Lewis Wright, who assume that artificial hatching 
and the rearing of chickens is an absolutely necessary accessory 
to any large fowl-breeding establishment, we undertake to af- 
firm that up to this time, in the 3'ear of our Lord eighteen 
hundred and seventy-seven, there is not existing nor has there 
ever 3'et been invented, an eccaleobeon, an incubator, a hatch- 
ing-house, a hot-bed, or other contrivances of this character, in 
France, England, or America, that was practically worth one 
sixpence in the hands of a novice, for wholesale production of 
chickens from fowls' eggs. 

Mr. Geyelin, is unquestionably a gentleman, and a well- 
meaning man. But his proposition is utterly impracticable, at 
least in the United States. And his prescribed mode of artifi- 
cial hatching can never succeed, in either England or America, 
profitably — since all experiments in this direction have proved 
failures from their excessive prime cost, and the subsequent 
disasters that attend the attempts to raise the chickens pro- 
duced in this manner, in a cold climate. It cannot be done, 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 11 

with lis. It never has been done — to any extent. And we 
doubt if it will be done in either country, at present.* 

But let us note how the artificial hatching of chickens is 
manipulated in Egypt, where millions of hens' eggs are every 
year used, in their peculiar style of " oven," and incubated by 
common fire heat — as all of us are aware, who have studied 
chicken-histor}^ carefully. 

A quaint old volume, written over a hundred and thirty 
years ago by Monsieur de Reaumur, of the Royal Academj' of 
Sciences at Paris, and printed for C. Davis, over-against Gray's 
Inn Gate, London, in 1750, is devoted principally to the 
hatching of domestic poultry by means of artificial heat — 
" either in hot-beds, or by that of common fire." This is a 
studied dissertation upon the mode for hundreds of years in 
vogue among the Bermeans^ in Egypt ; where millions of chick- 
ens are annually and successfully raised without mother-hens. 

But this occurs in Egypt, and the modus operandi through 
which this colossal result is there attained, has ever been — 
as it still is — virtually a secret. 

In the early numbers of the third volume of "Wade's Fanciers' 
Journal," there appear some interesting articles upon this 
topic, which we quote from. In the work by Monsieur de R, 
Father Sicard tells us that " we ought not to wonder that 
this peculiar method of hatching chickens should not be known 
in Europe ; since it is unknown even in a great part of Egypt. 
It is a secret, limited there to a single village, called Benne, 
located in the Delta, sixty miles from Cairo — and a few ad- 
joining places." The inhabitants of Berme teach this secret to 
their children — but successfully keep it from all strangers. 
In the proper season, the Bermeans disperse themselves around, 



* The above was written before the long and interesting account of Mr. Wni. C. Baker's 
extraorcUnarj' success in hatching chickens bj- artificial heat at Cresskill, Bergen Co., New 
Jersey, was made public, within my knowledge. Since the first editions of this book- were 
published, that account appears in the Hartford Poultry World, copiously illustrated ; 
and by permission of H. H. Stoddard, Esq., (who loans us copies of the drawings) we in- 
sert this important article in fifteen pages at the end of this edition of our book — to 
which the special attention of the reader is here referred. G. P. B. 



12 



EAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



each man who understands the process takes charge of one 
" oven," for about six months, successively, and through their 
skilful management from 45,000 to 70,000 eggs are set at a 
time, in each oven — to be hatched out by means of properly 
applied and carefully conducted artificial (fire) heat. 

The Egyptian secret consists of two parts ; namely, that of 
building these hatching-ovens properly, and that of causing 
the immense number of eggs set in them to be regularly and 



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GROUND PLAN OF C. L. GATCH'S POCLTEY HOUSE, ON PAGE 8. 

appropriately heated, night and day, as they would be if set on 
by the hens. The results attained are similar to those reached 
by the use of modern incubators, on a far lesser scale. The 
knowledge which the Bermeans possess (and which they keep 
so cautiously to themselves,) is that of so warming the eggs 
continuously, for twenty-one days, as to gradually unfold the 
chicks within, and finally to hatch them ; the important point 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 13 

towards success consisting simply (as in the cases of the Amer- 
ican artificial incubators of Graves, or Halsted,) in keeping up 
a constant and regular needful degree of heat, and knowing 
exactly how to manage the ovens to effect this object. 

A veritable account is given of the enormous number of 
chickens thus hatched in Egypt, as well as the exact number 
of ovens in use at that period, by the Bermeans. There were 
then 386 licensed ovens. "This number," says Father Sicard, 
*' can never be increased, or diminished," without the fact being 
known ; since the Aga of Berme — a governing official — is the 
lawful recipient of a regular tax of eight or ten crowns each 
for the privilege allowed to run an oven ; and this being his 
rent-roll, all operators are duly licensed and registered. Thus 
it is known that there are (or were) 386 ovens annually oper- 
ated in Egypt — say in 1740 to '45. 

In each oven they contrive to turn out, in six month's time, 
an average of eight broods, or hatchings, one after another. 
This gives three thousand and eighty-eight broods. The num- 
ber of eggs set in each oven, at one time, is from 45,000 to 
60,000. If three-fourths of the eggs hatch, (and this is said to 
be about the average product) we find that there are produced 
in Egypt by this secret artificial process 3,088 broods of say 
30,000 live chicks, each ; or the amazing number in the aggre- 
gate of ninety-two millions^ six hundred and forty thousand^ an- 
nually ! At all events, this was the official record, more than 
one hundred and twenty-five years ago. 

Americans naturally exclaim " where do all these eggs come 
from just at the right time for setting, thus ? " And " what 
do they do with these millions of chicks, as to raising, and dis- 
posing of them, after hatching ? " We will answer these nat- 
ural questions and quote some farther information upon this 
curious, but interesting work — which has woudrously increased 
in proportions, as a business in Egypt, since the middle of the 
last century. 

It is doubtful if we in America could possibly follow the 
Egyptian, or Bermean lead, in this business of raising poultry 



14 



BAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



in such enormous quantities, according to their concealed 
method. The " ovens " we allude to are called mamals, in 
Egypt. Each mamal has its Bermean, and one man only is 
entrusted with its management. He is educated from child- 
hood to the work, but the French author from whom we quote, 
advances the proposition (very cautiously) that this huge 
quantit}' of chickens, which will be looked upon as really pro- 
digious, miijM be annually produced in France, or other popu- 
lous countries, through means approximating in character to 
those employed by the Egyptians. 

Then Mons. Reaumur goes on to tell how common bakers' 
and pastry-cooks' ovens may be utilized, to produce similar re- 
sults. Indeed he details numerous experiments he tried, and 
succeeded with excellently well, Avith such ovens — or rather 
the waste heat of them — in the space over the hot bread and 
pie ovens of Paris. At the convent of the Society of L'enfant 




A MOVABLE CFnCKEN-COOP. 



Jesus, with the nuns at the Convent St. Sulpice, and also un- 
der the superintendence of the Abbe Menon — in France, the 
experiments with their baking ovens were practiced upon de 
Reaumur's suggestion with a few hundreds of eggs at a hatch- 
inof, with remarkable success and satisfaction. 

Prior to the issuing of this book by de Reaumur — away 
back a hundred and forty years ago — the Duke of Tuscany 
(so Thevenot asserts) in order to indulge a laudable curiosity 
" for Avhich the ancient house of Medicis was eminent, had sent 
to him from Eg3^pt one of these educated Bermeans, skilled in 
the art of hatching chickens," who hatched some at Florence, 
.ath as good success as they were got out in Egypt. This ex- 



16 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

periment was tried, with like success, in Poland. A French 
prince attempted it at Chantilly, subsequently, without the 
Bermean — but failed. And it was concluded that to do this 
work as they did it — producing such vast quantities of chick- 
ens at a time — the Egyptian operator must be imported, who 
knew how to build the " oven " first, and how to manage it 
and the eggs deposited therein, rightfully — afterwards. 

We have onl}^ approached to this "art "in hatching chick- 
ens through similar modes, by using the Incubator, which is 
heated artificially, and from which only a few score, or hun- 
dreds at most, can be hatched at a time. And even this sys- 
tem is but indifferently understood in this country as yet. 
" Where do the eggs come from, in Egypt, to supply these enor- 
mous hatching-ovens at the right time, of such freshness as to be 
rendered at once available ?" is a question naturally proposed. 

Through this method of successfully hatching such large 
quantities of chickens every year by the Bermeans, under a 
system that has been in vogue there for centuries, it is at once 
apparent that " hens have been rendered infinitely more com- 
mon in Egypt than in any other country known. This is of 
course owing to the facility with which Egyptians are able to 
multiply them," says Reaumur. And Father Sicard adds that 
a thousand eggs are sold there for not above thirty to forty 
medins — which is equal to but 36 to 40 cents in silver. There 
is therefore no difficulty in procuring aiiy quantity of eggs, 
when they are wanted — since every peasant or poultry owner 
knows when they are needed for the hatch ing-ovens, and pro- 
vides his share from day to day through the season on the spot, 
at Berme, where they are used and promptly paid for on de- 
livery. 

The Egj^ptian mode of raising chickens is to this people a 
very simple process, and it could perhaps be imitated in this 
country, to some extent, in the hot season, at the extreme 
south during seven or eight months in the year. " The first 
thing, however, to do towards cooking your trout," says quaint 
Izaak Walton. " is to catch him." And intelligent Californians 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



17 



have a proverb among them advising that " you secure your 
bear, before you offer to sell his skin." 

In this view, we add that the first thing to perform in the 
raising of chickens, in any quantities, is to successfully hatch 




CHICKEN-COOP, WITH SLIDING-TOP IN KOOF. 

them. The Bermeans do this on an enormous scale. How 
they do it, is a matter that must be studied attentively, and 
experimented upon largely, before the American breeder will 
be able do it as they succeed with it. But — given the chickens 




COOP WITH LATH COVERED RUN FOR HEN ANI> CHICKS. 

in hand — successfully hatched, the mode adoj^ted in Berme 
to raise them is by no means complicated, since they do this 
by the millions, there. 

But they have a vast advantage over us, in the temperature 
of their warm climate, to begin with. In Europe or America, 



18 



RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 




%"- w'^ri 



'\ Mi 



IN QUANTITY, FOB MARKET. 



19 



even if it were feasible at any one time to collect several ■ hun- 
dred thousand eggs suitable for hatching, (which is hardly 
possible,) and if we were then able to so manipulate them in 
the incubators, or properly prepared " ovens," or heating 
houses, as to get out even five or ten thousand at a time, what 
could we do — in many of our cold localities — with so many 




CHEAP SIIED-KOOF HOUSE, WITH GLASS OR MESH-WIRE FKOUT. 

chickens, produced on the same day ? What must become of 
the poor little creatures, fresh from their shells, without moth- 




A GOOD FOWL-HOUSE, WITH FENCED BUSS FRONT AND REAR. 



20 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

ers to brood and shelter and keep them from perishing in in- 
fancy, especially in frigid weather ? 

" Artificial mothers are already invented," replies the maker 
of incubators. We are aM'are of this fact. But how far will 
those machines go toward the desired end, when we speak of 
what is to be done for tens of thousands of chicks, possible to 
be produced ? " Multiply the number of machines ? " Very 
good. But this would not remedy the objection, in our wet, 
cold days and nights ; while in Egypt it scarcely ever rains, 
and the climate is constantly sufficiently warm to permit of 
dispensing with " mothers," natural or artificial. They do not 
use them there, at all, and thus they can raise chickens in quan- 
tities, as tve can not. 

That chickens can be multiplied among us, artificially, and 
that to. a certain extent they can be reared through means sim- 
ilar 'to those long in vogue among Egyptians, there is little 
question. That hundreds of batches of chickens are nowadays 
hatched and raised, at least to goodly marketable size in Amer- 
ica, we are assured is the fact by those who have in the last 
three or four years used the Yankee " incubators," invented 
by our people in New York, and Boston. 

We will now turn to the subject of hatching chickens in the 
ordinary way — as we are compelled to do, for the most part — 
under hen-mothers. 

The early Spring-time with us is the appropriate season in 
which to commence the work of chicken-raising. Adult fowls 
become " broody," or, in other words, they then incline to sit 
upon the second litter of eggs they have laid. And this 
" hatching fever " or motherly instinct in fowls, first exhibits 
itself in the month of February, March, or April, annually. 

We have stated heretofore, and we repeat it just here for 
the information of those interested, that hens will ordinarily 
lay about so many eggs in a year, with good fair keep and 
treatment — but that the egg-product may be greatly increased^ 
within a given period, by the daily use of extra or stimulating 
feeding. 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MAEKET. 21 

Those who raise fowls and eggs for market purposes only, 
and who do not give their attention strictly to breeding " fan- 
cy " or show fowls, have no use for cocks and hens except to 
breed and rear them in numbers as rapidly as possible, and to 
obtain from their fowls the largest quantities of eggs, in the 
shortest possible period of time. And when the hens have 
" laid themselves out," it is time to turn their carcasses over to 
the butcher, or they quite outlive their usefulness. 

The " Imperial Egg Food " made at Hartford, Conn., by 
Allen and Sherwood, is by far the best stimulant for this in- 
creased egg-production from common hens, that we are ac- 
quainted with. We have personally tested this preparation, 
and with marked results, in past years. Hundreds of the lead- 
ing poulterers of this country have also tried it practically, 
and all agree that this food — properly given to laying fowls, 
(as the printed directions accompanying each package clearly 
specifies) will greatly improve the laying quality of hens ; 
while there are certain constituents in the make-up of this 
feed, that wonderfully aids at the same time in keeping domes- 
tic poultry in fine condition and good health. 

We commend the judicious use therefore of this Imperial 
Egg Food, because we know something about it, through ex- 
perience, and because this is the only sort of " egg-producing 
food " we have any knowledge of, individually. 

If we are to make use of eggs for hatching that are laid by 
our own stock, we know as a rule about what will be produced 
from them. If we are just commencing the business, and are 
in search of a clutch or two of eggs of some single chosen 
variety that we fancy — we should apply to a reliable breeder 
of the kind of fowls we prefer, and take care that we get what 
we are in search of, fresh laid, and true to the breed we seek. 

This is important, for several good reasons. There is much 
of ignorance, a great deal of carelessness in breeding, and not 
a little deceit practiced in certain quarters, by those who do 
not know how to breed fowls, or who do not care to keep the 
better class of stock of the nominal varieties they pretend to 



22 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

cultivate, honestly and advisedly. The " humbugs in the hen 
trade " are not all dead, yet — even in this year of grace 1877. 

Apply to a good man, and enjoin it upon him to ship you the 
freshest eggs he has, from fowls that have been properly mated 
for breeding. Pay him his price — get them at as reasonable a 
figure as you ought to for the kind it may be — and do not 
send your order for them until you have procured a hen, or 
have one at hand ready, to set. 

The safest way to set a hen, is to place her at first for a 
few days, say, upon glass or common eggs.. When she is 
firmly attached to the nest, then give her those you have pur- 
chased, or set aside for breeding fuom. She will remain steady 
after the third day, if she is in earnest. And all you nSed to 
do is to see that she comes off, daily, or is taken off the nest 
for food, bathing in the sulphur-dust and ash box, and returns 
to her duty before the eggs chill, if the weather is cold. 

In the earliest weeks of spring, I have found nine Cochin or 
Brahma eggs as many as a hen will then cover to advantage, 
in the sitting-nest. Eleven or thirteen are used, frequently. 
But there will rarely be hatched of these over seven or eight 
chicks, in the coldest months of spring-time. Of the smaller 
varieties, such as the Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks, Spanish, 
Hamburgs, etc., the greater number of eggs may be used.* 

Make it a point to place the sitting hen upon her nest in the 
evening, always. She will through this method be more stead- 
fast in her brooding. Prepare the nest in a quiet portion of 
the house, or furnish her with a covered box, or coop, by her- 
self in an out-of-the-way corner, where she will remain undis- 
turbed by other hens, and especially by the cocks in your runs. 

The bottom of the sitting-nest is well made by placing a 
grass-sod first in the box, with the roots upward. Upon this 
fresh dump earth lay short straw or hay, mingled with tobacco 
leaves, if you can procure them handily. Sprinkle over all a 
little fine powder of sulphur — and, the last thing before you 
put the hen upon the eggs, rub sulphur-dust, or carbolic pow- 
der through her feathers, thoroughly. By this means you 

* These and the Iloudan, Dorkiiig, or Game Cocks, make a good cross with common 
fowls. 



IN QUANTITY, FOE MARKET. 23 

drive awaj, and keep at a distance, the vermin that so fre- 
quently assails a setting hen. 

She must have food and water handy, of course. And you 
should remove her gently from the nest, daily, unless she vol- 
untarily comes off to feed and roll in the dust-bath every day. 
But do not fuss with her. She knows her duties l)est. 

She will sit twenty-one days. At the expiration of this 
term, the chicks will give you notice of their approach, by 
their gentle " peep " at first, and then by thrusting their 
downy polls out through or under the parent's sheltering 
wings. Still, let hen and brood alone for twenty-four hours. 
They are all right, and they will do nicely yet, for a full day. 

On the morning following the hatching, remove the mother 
carefully from the old nest. Clean it all out, and take the 
debris away. Give her a little, more sulphur, or carbolic pow- 
der, dusted through her plumage. And then commence to 
feed the younglings — as we have directed. 

And just here let us observe that the use of " a little sul- 
phur powder " is recommended. You can kill every chick 
that is hatched under your hens, by oycr-doing even this very 
simple process. There is no necessity for applying sulphur in 
undue quantities — remember. 

Give the hen-mother a dusting with it when she first com- 
mences to sit, and when she hatches her brood, apply a little 
of it upon her under-feathers. Not too much — for a surplus 
will get into the eyes of the chicks and blind them, frequently. 

They cannot see to eat after this, and die of starvation. 
Whereas, if the sulphur be judiciously applied to the lien's 
body, only, (at first) vermin are kept at bay, and sufficient 
of the dust reaches the down of the tender young chicks for 
all useful purposes, until they get to be three or four weeks 
old, and strong in muscle and limb, comparatively. 

My recent volume upon the various " Diseases of Domestic 
Poultry," treats this subject fully as a speciality, and I must 
refer the reader of this present treatise to that work for in- 
formation and advice touching the details of these troubles, 



24 BAISINQ FOWLS AND EGGS 

as I have space in this little book barely to allude to the com 
mon ailments of fowls. 

In my previous works, however, I have advised the use of 
the German Roup Pills as a palliative and general corrective 
for use in the fowl-yard. This preparation is an old one, and 
it has been thoroughly tested in Europe and America, until it 
has come to be an established specific everywhere among 
American poultry-raisers, appreciated through its intrinsic 
merits. As a general medicine, for practical use at a mo- 
ment's notice upon the approach of diseases among the fowl 
flocks, these German Pills have no rival in excellence. 

It has now come to be very generally understood that that 
troublesome affection known as roup, is one of the very worst 
enemies we have to contend with, in poultry raising ; and its 
presence in the houses or runs is-the greatest bar to success in 
rearing good younglings, or in keeping grown fowls, usefully. 
These pills are now manufactured very largely and are sold all 
over the country, to the great satisfaction of those who use 
them. H. H. Stoddard of Hartford, has recently become pro- 
prietor of this curative for ailing fowls, and we refer to his 
advertisement at the close of this book with pleasure — know- 
ing, as most of our readers do, — that he would not recommend 
it, or have undertaken the sale of this preparation, unless he 
well knew its value and efi&cacy. 

The coop in which the mother hen is confined until her 
brood is a month to six weeks' old, may be very simple in its 
construction (see jya^es 17, 19.) It should be without a floor, 
and of convenient size to be portable. The roof, common pitch, 
and overhanging the eaves suflficiently to shed the rain — in 
that portion to which she resorts at night, or for shelter from 
bad weather. The rest of this cage may be open, slatted with 
laths (see page 17) set far enough apart on the framing to 
allow the chicks to pass out and in, at their pleasure. 

This coop can be taken up and moved about the grass-plat 
easily, (as see design on p. 14,) and placed upon a fresh spot of 
the lawn, or run — thus benefitting hen and chickens, largely. 




"PLYMOUTH ROCK" COCK AND HEN. 

THE farmer's fowl. 

The above illustration accurately represents this now favorite 
variety of poultry, which is not a large breed, comparatively, 
but which has proved a very useful one to farmers and poul- 
terers, who have given them a fair steady trial, for two or three 
years. They are good layers, a very good table fowl, not un- 
like the old style Dominique (from which they come, through a 
cross with the Black Java) and have become quite desirable, 
as a moderate priced and acceptable sort, for ordinary uses. 

Mr. Felch, in speaking of the " Plymouth Rocks " said pub- 
licly, not long since, that " there has long been felt the need 
of a breed of fowls which should fill the middle ground be- 
tween the small breeds and Asiatics. This place is admirably 
supplied by the Plymouth Mocks. And anxious that it may re- 
main so, I would caution the breeder not to breed them to 

25 



26 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

Asiatic size : for so soon as they shall reach the size of the 
Brahma they will be equally as long in maturing, and thus lose 
that merit (poultry for summer and early fall) which they now 
possess, and which gives them their present strong hold upon 
poulterer and breeder. In our rural districts many a matron, 
is dependent upon the egg production to secure money to 
replenish her wardrobe ; and we can see, if we are ever to 
secure a foothold in these districts for thorougbred stocks, they 
must have merit. The production of eggs is what keeps the 
machine moving. In fact, it is the fuel that heats the steam 
that starts the whole. The census of 1870 discloses the facts 
that the United States produced o36 million dollars worth of 
hay, 761 million bushels of corn, 288 million dollars worth of 
wheat, a cotton crop worth 155 million of dollars, a dairy crop 
of 145 million of dollars, a meat crop, which took into account 
all the animals slaughtered or sold to be slaughtered, (cattle, 
sheep and swine) valued at )Bo98,956,376. But greater than 
either of these agricultural products stands the egg and 'poultry 
product of this land. It finds no rival, save in the entire meat 
and dairy crops combined. Prices based on the market in my 
own town," said ]V|r. F., " show that if each family consume 
but two dozen eggs per week, and $20 worth of poultry per 
year, the aggregate would be 405 million of dollars ; to which 
if added the consumption of our restaurants, confection es- 
tablishments, our thousands of hotels, and the medicinal and 
chemical demand, we cannot possibly compute the egg and 
poultry produced in the United States to-day, at less than 500 
millions of dollars per annum. This is the largest agricultural 
interest in the land, be it observed, at this time. 

The common fowls of the country are now kept of course, 
in great excess of numbers over any and all of the " fancy " 
breeds of late introduction among us from abroad. 

Within tile writer's experience, if common breeds of chickens 
are hatched in the months of February and early March, the 
male birds, properly cared for, will by July and August attain 
to a generous size for the table. And if well fed during this 
period, they will average a dressed weight of five or six pounds 
each, or eleven pounds the pair, which, at the ordinary value 
of poultry in market in the months last named, will afford a 
very handsome profit upon their cost and keeping. 

At about tiie period when the cocks are thus killed off, the 
pullets of this cross and age will begin to lay almost uniformly, 
and will continue t:) furnish eggs during the entire winter, 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 27 

coming in for sitters naturally in the months of February and 
March, when their litters will have been exhausted. 

As to stock for breeding purposes, a selection is best made 
from the short-legged Asiatic male birds, to be introduced to 
the common native female stock. From their chickens, selected 
birds should be used for future breeding, and the cross thus 
obtained are best bred hack to the Cochin or Brahma male again, 
reserving from season to season only the short-limbed and well- 
shaped pullets from the crossing, for subsequent use. In this 
way the better characteristics of the foreign blood are more 
uniformly retained. 

The first feed for chicks, say for a week, is largely the best 
if given of hard-boiled eggs and bread crumbs. They eat but 
little for a few days after the hatching, but should be fed four 
or five times a day. 

After this, give them cooked soft food, of wheat, fine corn 
meal, and potatoes boiled, for two weeks. And if from the 
outset, you scald this food in milk (as most farmers can) the 
benefit will be farther increased. 

From this time forward, crushed corn and boiled vegetables, 
half and half, with occasional additions of bone-meal and fine 
meat-scraps will help them, amazingi3% Where hundreds of 
young birds are raised, (instead of dozens, only), this system 
cannot well be fully carried out. But in any case, the food 
should at first be cooked for them. This renders it more easily 
digestible : and for their drink, a tonic of Iron Tincture, or 
Cayenne pepper in the water, twice a week, is beneficial. 

Where fowls are kept for profit, and especially when large 
numbers are present, attention should be directed to saving the 
feathers taken from them, (if dressed for market,) and also the 
manure from the houses' — no inconsiderable items of value in 
each year. 

In raising poultry, whether the object be to produce chick- 
ens for the market, or to obtain a supply of eggs, the first prin- 
ciple to be observed is absolute cleanliness in and around the 
houses they occupy. During the brief process of fattening 
fowls, a range for the birds intended to be slaughtered is not 
necessary. On the contrary, for two or three weeks devoted 
to finally fitting fowls for the spit, the more quiet they re- 
main in their confinement (always supposing them to be kept 
cleanly and free from vermin^ the better. 

For both laying and breeding fowls a range or walk is a ne- 
cessity to their comfort, health, and profitableness. Without 
this convenience, to a greater or less extent — and the more 



28 EAISIKG FOWLS AND EGGS 

liberal the range the better — it is futile to attempt to grow 
fowls to profit, and to expect them to produce eggs regularly. 

In the vicinity of all large cities and towns fresh eggs are 
always in request, at the most remunerative prices. Every 
tiller of the soil possesses, more or less, facilities for feeding 
poultry economically, and has also the space upon his land to 
make them comfortable and thrifty. But some time must be 
given to looking after them daily, and a degree of care is requi- 
site to keep them in "good heart," and to render them of profit 
in the end. Our Shorthorns and Alderneys, our Suffolks and 
Chesters, our Southdowns and Cotswolds, all require care to 
keep them in fine condition. Why not, proportionately, so 
with our poultry; which, liaving reference to the comparative 
cost and product, pays with certainty so much greater a per- 
centage of profit, year by year ? In France every farmer has 
his chicken yard, and the amount of poultry and eggs consumed 
by, and exported from that country, is enormous. Mo7isieur 
de Lavergne, for example, estimates that the poultry of Great 
Britian for the year (1861-'62) is valued, in round numbers, 
at twenty millions francs, (^$4, 000, 000,) while the total value 
of the two products ^— poultry and eggs — in France at the 
same period reaches rising two hundred millions of francs. 

Where one or two hundred fowls can as well be profitably 
kept in a thrift}^ condition, as a dozen or two can he neglected 
and starved, it is well that every farmer should look at this 
item of live stock, and bear in mind that, with ordinary care, 
(considering the necessary investment of capital and the 
trouble of its keeping) 7io live stock will return him ant/thing like 
so getierom a jjcrcentage as will his too often neglected poultry. 

As a rule, the poultry-house or houses are better placed, all 
things considered, with the aspect facing east and south, in 
our northern and eastern States. During the severe winters ex- 
perienced in our northern latitude, domestic fowls will neither 
lay, nor be free from various diseases, if exposed to rough 
weather or the chilling winds. A cheap and good style of 
house may be constructed with a partial glass front and end, 
facing as indicated in Fig. 1., the sash running from two feet 
above the sill towards the peak, and upon the side towards the 
eaves, of any desired dimensions, upon the plan on next page. 

Such a house has been in use for several years by the writer, 
and has been found to answer admirably for sitters as for lay- 
ers, with a slight change in the interior arrangements, from 
Dne season to another. The glazing may be such as serves for 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



29 



the ordinary green-house roofing, that is lapped upon the edges. 
This affords light and warmth from the sun's rays, and has 
been found most economical and comfortable. The wing may 




Fig 1 — A CHEAP AND GOOD POULTEY HOUSE. 

be of any length. Earth floors beneath the roosting places ara 
economical and easily cleaned. Half round roosts of large 
sized spruce poles are the most comfortable, and these should 
be movable, to set upon cross-stilts, not over two or three feet 
from the ground floor. If these roosts are once a week, in 
warm weather, wet with kerosene, the process will serve the 
double purpose of keeping the roosts free from vermin, and 
the bodies of the fowls from tliis same annoyance. Access to 
a gravelled walk or yard at the rear, in fine weather, is indis- 
pensable. A grass enclosure, if practicable, upon which fowls 
can range daily, is a desideratum in summer. In the rear of 
the above described house, was alloted half an acre for this 
purpose. In the absence of these two last mentioned almost 
necessities, fresh gravel and sand, broken shells, &c., and green 
food of some kind, as cabbage leaves, ruta-baga tops, turnip 
leaves, grass, or the like, should frequently be thrown within 
their reach, which they will devour with avidity. 

The house and ground-plan here described, (figures 1 and 
2) may be used for laying hens during the fall and winter, and 
for sitters in early spring time. From such a house the chick- 
ens, when strong enough, may be transferred to the open or 
*' summer " coops mentioned hereafter, and shown in figures 
3, 4, and 5. It must not be forgotten that pure air, and plenty 
of it, when not freezing cold, is as desirable to fowls as to man. 
A dust-bath formed of leached wood ashes, is a luxury for 



80 



EAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



fowls confined in limited accommodations. The premises de- 
scribed should always be kept as cleanly as possible, and at 
least annually whitewashed upon the inside. 




ExpLANATTOK. — W, w'indows ; b, ash-boxes; 
d, doors; n, nests; r, for roosts. (Grouudplau.; 



The remarks thus far submitted have reference, in a general 
way, to the keeping of poultry upon an ordinary scale. With 
slight daily care and attention, as above hinted, any farmer can 
keep his hundred or two of fowls, which may readily be tended 
and provided for by the boys upon his estate, or even by the 
women of the household. From two hundred birds thus dis- 
posed, he may obtain, annually, two thousand three hundred 
dozen of eggs, and, if inclined, at least fifteen hund"ed pounds 
of marketable chickens, before the close of August, in each 
year. This product will pay him from four hundred and fifty 
to five hundred dollars in money, and leave him his original 
stock for the next year. His expenses Avill be not over two 
hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars, thus furnishing him 
with an equal sum of profit upon say two hundred fowls. 

The calculation here made as to returns in eggs, is set down 
at an annual yield of 1-10 eggs to each hen. This is fully up 
to the average, under the best care and upon high feed. Some 
fowls will lay more than this number, but these are exceptions. 
From 130 to 140 eggs, yearly, is a generous supply, and 1 have 
never known any fowls except the Chinese, or the cross already 
described, that would accomplish more than this. The hen 
spoken of by some writers that " lays every day in the year " 
is a myth. 

For fattening fowls, the best corn is the cheapest standard 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



31 



food in this country. Boiled rice and potatoes, and shorts or 
" middlings " of wheat are excellent. Small potatoes and 
broken or even " damaged " rice, which can usually be ob- 
tained in any large city, serve an admirable purpose, and will 
be found economical for every-day feeding. Occasional allow- 
ances of barley or oats, or laoth, are highly advantageous to 
laying fowls. Sunflower seeds, which can be easily grown pro- 
fusely along the entire range on both sides of all fences, with- 
out taking up room or causing any trouble save the original 
planting, are one of the very best alteratives and changes in 
diet that can be obtained, and fowls will devour these with a 
gusto, always. In the writer s judgment, fowls should never 
be stinted in food. As much as they will eat without waste, 
and of the beat, is deemed the most economical in the end. 

Male chickens intended for the market may be kept together 
advantageously in considerable numbers in the same coops, if 
brought up together from the outset. No pullets should ever 
be placed in these cag'es or yards. Asifast as the birds reach 
tlie proper size and weight for killing, they should be disposed 
of. For this particular purpose, cociv chickens are the most 
profitable, as they furnish more meat at a given age, and are 
of no account (in numbers) otlierwise, after they attain to a 
size suitable for the table; These male birds should be well 
fed from the shell. They will generally pay a large profit upon 
the investment, and may be killed at three to six months old. 

The plan of a fowl house already given (see Figs. 1 and 2) 
is such as the writer had in use for some years, in size, propor- 
tions and appointments. iielow is the design of houses 
adopted by him also for many years, for summer use only, in 
whicii large numbers of chickens were annually raised. 




FIG. 4. — SUMMER OPEN CHICKEN HOUSES — EEAE. 



32 



BAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 




FIG. 3 — KANGE OF SUMMER OPEN CHICKKN HOUSES — FKOST. 

The arrangement on next page, colonizes the lots of chicks, 
with the mothers, from March or April to June and forward, 
and separates each from interference with the others. The 
land might be subdivided into four lots, but the expense of 
fencing would be considerable, of course, and has not been 
found necessary upon the writer's system of management. In 
each of the six coops indicated have been kept, from early March 
or April, twenty -five to thirty chickens, with two or three hens 
each, the aggregate, upon the half acre in the four Jiouses, aver- 
aging, during the summer, 600 to 650 chickens, raised for and 
sold in market from June to August. A portion of the chick- 
ens, say one-fourth, are allowed to run into the whole lot 
(which is in grass) during three or four hours daily, when they 
are driven in, and another fourth part are released for exer- 
cise. 

One house is usually devoted to male birds, exclusively. In 
the fall, a few of the finest of both sexes are selected to add to 
the next year's breeding stock, and the balance, seven or eight 
months old, are sold for consumption, at fifteen to eighteen 




FIG. 5. — GROUND PLAN OF OPEN SUMMER CHICKEN COOPS. 



IN QUANTITY, FOE MAKKET. 



33 



cents per pound, paying a profit of 40 per centum at least, on 
cost, interest on investments, keep and care. 

The open or summer coops described, are constructed of laths 
or paling-stuff upon all sides, and are protected by a shed roof, 
battened over the seams. The six divisions will make each 
house about forty feet by twelve. This is cheaply built, but is 
ample for all the purposes of raising the chickens to marketa- 
ble condition, from the time they leave the hatching-house 
with the hen-mothers, as described. 

Six of the compartments (or coops) are under one roof, and 
four different houses stand at the four angles of an oblong 
square of land half an acre in extent, thus : 































OPEN COOPS. 




OPEN COOPS. 




(Half an acre, or more.) 








Clump of Trees for shade. 






o 


PEN 


COO 


PS. 






OPI 


:n c 


OOP 


?. 


— 





The winter laying and sitting house, described below, (fig- 
ures 7 and 8,) may be also used for summer chicken-raising, if 
desired. The sashes in front can be taken out and lattice- 
work substituted ; or the frames of the windows can be covered 
with two-inch mesh-wire screening, which is inexpensive and 
very durable. By this change the poultr3^-house is rendered 
cool and airy, which, for the " heated term," would be found 
too close and warm, for summer use, with the glass windows. 

The lattice-coops will have already been cleansed, of course, 
for the reception of the young birds. The entire fixtures in 
these chicken-houses consist of a water-vessel for each, a feed- 
box, a low roost upon the brackets, and a dust-box, two feet 
square for ashes. Into this latter, it has been found a good 
plan to mix with ashes a handful of powdered sulphur, occasion- 
ally, which helps to destroy vermin. In a few weeks from their 



34 BAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

entrance to the coops, the chickens will follow the mothers to 
the low roosts, and I have never found any difficulty in keeping 
two or three hens with their broods in each of the compart- 
ments. I had these in use for twenty years, and found them 
all that is needed for summer houses for market poultry. 

Now, if six hundred chickens can be produced thus succes- 
fully upon a half-acre lot, no good reason naturally appears 
that any given number may not be similarly raised — for mar- 
ket purposes be it remembered — and kept, advantageously, 
from the early hatching period suggested, through the summer 
months, while the weather will commonly permit of their being 
left comparatively in the ojpen air. 

To attempt to house large numbers of fowls in close quarters 
during the severe winters at the north, is not recommended. 
Thus, in order to raise chickens by hundreds or thousands, a 
great deal of space is necessary, as I have aimed to show. 

Thus, when winter approaches, and the weather gets too cold 
for comfort, upon the plan suggested, all the previous spring 
and early summer chickens will, from time to time, have ma- 
tured and been disposed of; and only the fowls for winter lay- 
ing and the next spring sittings remain on hand. The accom- 
modations of the previous year are now used for the conve- 
nience of these birds, say from October to February, and the 
hatching of their broods, subsequently — their chickens, in turn, 
being transferred, in due time, to the open cages described. 

For the accommodation of the layers, and afterwards for 
the sitters in early spring-time, the plan on the following page 
is in use by the writer : (Figures 7 and 8.) 

This house for sitters and layers, furnished with great sim- 
plicity, has been found ample for the purposes indicated. The 
building was erected of rough No 4 boards, set upright upon a 
two by four-inch joint frame-work, with four-inch corner-posts 
and centre-studs, and is battened upon the outside (over the 
seams) with three-inch paling-stuff. The roof is finished in the 
same manner, but shingling is better. The corner-posts of the 
central portion of this building are sixteen feet high, the 
pitch is "one-third," and the dimensions of this part are sev- 
enteen by fifteen feet. The two wings (as shown in the eleva- 
tion) are shed-roofed, falhng back from the front, are twelve 
feet high, running down to seven and a half feet in rear, 
fifteen feet wide, and extend right and left from the outside of 
the central building, in each direction forty-five feet ; making 
the whole house ninety -six feet long by fifteen feet in width, 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



35 




This house is surmounted bj- a cupola five feet square, with a 
vane, .which adds to the comeliness of the premises, but need 
not be indulged in save to suit the taste of builder. The sashes 



86 



EAISmG FOWLS AND EGGS 



are upon a line in front, and are glazed in the manner already 
indicated in plan, Fig. 1. In this house about fifty hens can 
be conveniently set at one time — say in the ten apartments 
five each — who will not interfere with each other if properly 
cared for daily. During the late fall and winter months this 
building will accommodate, in its ten divisions, over a hundred 
laying hens comfortably. (Eight sections only are shown.) 

During the early spring an average of a dozen eggs may be 
placed under your fifty sitters, and, with good luck, five hun- 
dred chickens may be produced, and this from the earliest 
broods. These maybe removed in due time to the "open" 
houses, and another fifty hens may be placed upon the nests 
vacated by the first ones, who, with proper care, will bring out 
another five hundred chickens, more or less, say in six weeks 
after the earlier sittings. 

It will be understood that upon the removal of the first 
broods, the sitting boxes should be nicely cleansed, before the 
second hens are placed upon the nests. By the time the second 
broods come off, it will be the last of March or the first of 
April. All the young stock may be safely transferred to the 
open houses by the beginning of May, where they can thence- 
forward be fed and cared for as previously directed. 




I. K. felch's plan of a two story fowl-house, with low glazed front roof. 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 37 

From the new stock the best samples of pullets are selected 
again, to add to the next year's breeding stock, as before ; the 
old fowls (two years of age) are killed, the young cocks are 
all put in separate houses, to be used for the earliest maturing 
and largest chickens, and affairs go on during the fall as during 
the season previous. 

By adopting the plans thus laid down, with the buildings 
and appointments herein suggested, a thousand chickens can 
be readily and profitably raised for the summer market annu- 
ally, while ample conveniences are thus afforded, also, for at 
least one hundred laying hens during the winter months in the 
glazed house, (Figs. 7 and 8.) If the desire be to raise more, 
increased space must be accorded to your fowls, and more 
buildings should be erected. 

It will not answer to increase the huddling of the birds 
under one roof. If the buildings are smaller even than those 
described, and more numerous, being scattered over acres, 
instead of confining the stock mentioned to half an acre, and 
to a building of the size given, it will be all the better for the 
general health of the birds, undoubtedly. Crowding fowls 
into too narrow a space, is one great cause of the fatalities 
attending the attempt to breed them. 

Fresh air, light, cleanliness, varied fare, pure water, range, 
grass or occasional green and animal food, shelter from wet 
and raw winds, with plenty of gravel and ashes to roll them- 
selves in, are all requisites to success. 

With these advantages and fair attention, provision being 
made for the warmth and comfort of the laying hens in winter, 
chickens can be raised for the table and for market in any 
quantities, and to highly satisfactory profit; and eggs in abund- 
ance may also be had in any dry location within reasonable 
distance of the larger cities and towns of America, as has 
been proved through years of experience and of successful 
experiments. 




38 EAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

SUCCESSFUL ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

THE LARGEST POULTRY FARM IN THE WORLD. 

Since the foregoing pages were published, (in the original 
twenty-five cent pamphlet form,) our attention has been at- 
tracted to the May issue of Stoddard's " Poultry World," 
which contains a very interesting and elaborate account of an 
immense chicken-raising establishment on the banks of the Hud- 
son River, at Cresskill, N. J., such as we had no thought ex- 
isted on this continent. 

The following detailed description of this great poultry- 
raising farm, conducted by Wm. C. Baker, Esq., with the ac- 
companying illustrations of his fowl- houses, incubating house, 
brooding-house, &c., we transfer to this work, by permission 
of Mr. Stoddard. And we can only say, that this chicken- 
rearing place is by far the most extensive, practical, and sue-' 
cessful, that has ever been brought to our notice. 

Our present work would be quite incomplete without some 
details of this enormous establishment, surely. We therefore 
give this article almost entire ; since upon Mr. Baker's system, 
(which has never been approached elsewhere), tens of thousands 
of domestic fowls may be hatched and raised with the greatest 
ease, by competently educated persons, who have the means to 
carry out the details of this grand plan for artificial hatching 
and rearing domestic poultry, on a large scale. 

Upon this fine estate, at Cresskill, N. J., at some rods distant 
from the family residence and ornamented grounds, stand the 
great glass-covered chicken-houses, the incubating-house, the 
enormous laying-houses (the latter in a range four hundred and 
sixty feet long), the forcing-house, or patent feeding-rooms, the 
slaughtering-house, store-rooms, etc., which constitute this im- 
mense artificial fowl-raising establishment — beyond comparison 
the grandest and most extensive thing of its kind in the world. 

By courtesy of the Editor of the " Poultry World,'' we pre- 
sent the original drawings of the buildings, &ic., premising that, 
up to the issuing of our first editions, we had no idea that 
there existed anywhere so enormous a chicken-raising establish- 
ment, or that it had yet been brought within the reach of science 
and art to compass the wondrous success in this direction that 
Mr. Baker has finally accomplished. 

After practically experimenting in various ways for several 
yecirs (during which period Mr. Baker has expended in these 
experiments, and in the erection and appointments of his nume- 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 39 

rous buildings, f 75, 000), his establishment for hatching chickens, 
clucks or turkeys is to-day brought down to a very fine point, 
assuredly ! And the nicest feature of all is found in the fact 
that, under his system^ there is absolutely no limit to the quan- 
tity of chickens that may be artificially produced and success- 
fully raised, even in our uncertain American climate. 

We have always hitherto contended — and our experiments 
have proved this to be true — that large numbers of domestic 
fowls or chicks could not, ordinarily, be successfully raised or 
kept under a single roof. In hundreds of known instances 
other than our own a similarly unsatisfactory result has followed 
the attempt to multiply fowls in the common way, or to hatch 
and rear them profitably in large numbers among us, except 
through " colonization," within prescribed hmits. On page 10 
of this work appears the statement that " Up to this time, in 
the year of our Lord 1877, .there is not existing, nor has there 
ever yet been invented, an incubator, an eccaieobion, a hatching- 
house, a hot-bed, or other contrivance of this character, in 
France, England or America, that was practically worth one 
sixpence in the hands of a novice for the wholesale production of 
chickens from fowls' eggs." But Mr. Baker is 7iot a novice, 
and his scheme has proved a magnificent success, verily, through 
the facilities and appliances at his command at Cresskill, for the 
invention of which he personally holds several patents of origi- 
nal contrivances adapted to his purposes. 

Upon Mr. Baker's plan the thing is entirely feasible, perfectly 
natural, eminently successful ; and we see no reason why any 
man possessing the peculiar talent and taste for this business 
which he does, and who has the means to carry out the details 
as he has done, cannot raise domestic fowls by thousands, as 
readily and as surely as we have ever raised scores or hundreds, 
for the market, as he has done and is now doing at Cresskill. 

But this wonderful triumph in Mr. Baker's case has been 
achieved through brain-work, intelligent study, extensive knowl- 
edge of mechanics, the skillful application of properly-created 
and graduated heat or moisture, and by the liberal expenditure 
of cash means. Therefore, Mr. Baker need have no concern 
that he will meet with serious rivalry in his laudable undertak- 
ing in the present century. In our judgment, after a critical 
examination of his system, his premises and the cost of this 
huge enterprise, few other Americans will ever attempt to com- 
pete with him in this business on the large scale he has done it. 

The illustration upon page 42 represents the exterior of the 



40 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

great brooding-house — a long, glazed building fashioned like a 
pitch-roof green-house, with a broadside aspect to the east and 
south. The two and a half story building on the right (to which 
this is attached) is a commodious dwelling-house for the attend- 
ants, etc., and contains Mr. Baker's private office, the incubat- 
ing-rooms, a dining-hall and other apartments above, while the 
basement is devoted to store-rooms, boiler-rooms, electric bat- 
tery apartment, heating apparatus, etc. 

Passing through the battery-chamber, we enter the incubat- 
ing-apartment. Here are quietly produced thousands of chicks 
by artificial heat, every week. This chamber is about twenty 
feet square, protected by double sets of windows, and three 
ranges of huge obloug incubators stand through the center ; 
while a lesser range, similarly constructed (each with eight tiers 
of shallow egg-drawers, one above the other), runs around the 
four sides of the room. 

The capacity of the hatching-drawers, or multiplied trays, in 
these incubators is equal to the accommodation of about eight 
thousand eggs at a time, or, say, for turning out one hundred 
and forty thousand chickens per year in this one spacious, 
artificially-heated apartment. 

There is another room devoted to this same purpose, and Mr. 
Baker is still further increasing his incubating works, with the 
design of raising, during the coming year, a grand total of two 
hundred and fifty thousand chicks ; for which, as they mature, 
he has secured a cash market — when they shall have attained 
from one and a half to three pounds weight each — for table 
consumption in New York city, by the leading hotels there. 

Mr. Baker's thorough acquaintance with the manufacture of 
steam-heating apparatus affcbrds him" rare advantages in "apply- 
ing the principle " to chicken-incubating purposes. For many 
years he was one of the eminent New York firm of Baker, 
Smith & Co., known the world over in this line of business. 
His plan of hatching chickens is briefly as follows : 

The gas for heating the incubators is manufactured upon the 
premises. Beneath each machine is kept alight a single jet of 
this gas to heat the water conveyed through pipes to the narrow 
open chambers or vacuities over the surface of the eggs as they 
rest in the trays while being hatched. This process constantly 
gives to the eggs the required artificial heat, in form quite simi- 
lar to the action of the warmth that descends from the natural 
hen-mother's body when she is brooding over her eggs. An in- 
genious, practical and most admirable arrangement this ; for, 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 41 

in Mr. Baker's verified experience, precisely as the lien performs 
her duty in the natural way, so must the incubator perform its 
duty to be successful in the hatching. (See cut on page 50). 

The incubating-apartmeut is watched over by two or three 
females, Mr. Baker believing that this delicate process can be 
more aptly and appropriately managed by woman's hands, than 
by those of the rougher and sterner sex. The eggs in the trays 
are turned regularly once in a day, by these attendants. The 
heat conveyed to the interior of the incubators, as we have de- 
scribed, is controlled automatically. An electric battery in the 
adjoining room communicates with the hot-water chambers over 
the eggs, and also with the gas-jets ; and when the temperature 
becomes too hot or too cold for the healthy a^id rightful progress 
of the hatchings, the undue variation of heat is instantly an- 
nounced, through indicators governed by the electrical current 
and apparatus contrived for this special purpose. The atmo- 
sphere in the incubating department is kept moist and humid 
— like the warm spring air — by placing open, shallow pans of 
water around, upon which the heated air acts advantageously, 
evaporating it evenly and admirably. 

The numberless eggs produced and procured by Mr. Baker 
for his immense incubators are each and all tested before setting 
in the trays, and afterwards, at stated times, to ascertain if they 
are stale, clear or fresh, and vitalized. And all day long, and 
every day in the week, hundreds of chickens are now forthcoming 
from the drawers of the incubators, as we can afdrm from per- 
sonal observation. 

The young birds remain in the trays (where they first see day- 
light after breaking their shells) for two or three hours, when 
they become dry and lively, and are soon transferred to what 
Mr. Baker calls his " brooding-house " — delineated on page 42. 
This glass house is thirty feet in width, and one hundred and 
fifty-eight feet in length. It is sixteen feet high to the central 
peak inside, and it is divided off into fifty separate compart- 
ments (twenty-five on either side), in each of which are kept 
and " brooded," artificially, one hundred chicks from the second 
day of their birth to two or three months old ; the accommoda- 
tions within this large conservatory being ample for five thou- 
sand chicks at a time, of all ages. 

Here may be seen chickens of every hue and stripe, from the 
size of a half-grown robin to that of a pigeon or partridge, all 
in high health, active, sprightly, and evidently happy in the con- 
stant '^ summer atmosphere" that is kept up in this building 



44 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

also, for their benefit and convenience. Here they chirp and run 
about their httle yards, and grow and thrive continuously, until 
they become good-sized broilers ; and then, at weights of from 
one and a half to two and a half pounds each, they are fattened, 
dressed, and sent to the hotels and restaurants in New York at 
forty to fifty cents per pound, dead weight, to be served up as the 
always-desirable early spring chickens we see announced upon the 
fashionable hotel and restaurant bills of fare in that city. 

There is always a ready demand for these chicks. Mr. Baker 
will hatch and raise over two hundred thousand during the 
present year, probably ; and he offers nothing for sale, but always 
finds his market for everything he can get into good condition, 
as we have described. 

In this house the chickens are " brooded " when quite young 
by a patent hen-mother to each pen, which is hollow, made of 
zinc and filled with hot water, lined underneath with blanketing 
(not sheep's wool), and fixed close to the ground in a slightly 
inclined position, underneath which the chicks creep for extra 
warmth, when they feel the need of it, and which answers the 
full purposes of the " brooding " afforded by the natural mother- 
hen, without the lice nuisance that so commonly accompanies 
the natural mode of brooding. 

At the proper age, selected transfers are made from this house 
to another and larger range of buildings, similarly glazed and 
ventilated, in which are also confined, in numerous separate 
apartments, the laying-hens and pullets kept on the premises by 
Mr. Baker. This latter range is glazed on one side only, and 
contains seventy-five separate pens. 

This laying-house (four hundred and sixty feet long) is divided 
into seventy -five compartments, and each pen has three rooms or 
divisions in it. The pens run through from front to rear, and 
are six feet wide, each, by twenty feet long, from east to west, 
upon the following ground plan, on page 51. 

The front of tiie middle sections of these pens is provided 
each with sashes that raise to the roof or lower at will to open 
or close up the two back parts of the pen in cold weather, the 
fi'ont division being covered on top and outside with open mesh- 
wire only, beneath which, in fine weather, the laying-fowls enjoy 
the open air and the limited run. These pens have a clean, dry, 
graveled lloor all through, and the whole premises there are 
thoroughly underdrained, to keep them perfectly dry at all sea- 
sons. Above the ground-fioor the pens are well ventilated, and 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 45 

the birds thus confined (as they are continually in this house) 
are in excellent health and condition. 

They are fed from the rear of the pens. A narrow tramway 
runs completely through the building, and the tenders place their 
feed in small truck wagons, one commencing at one end and the 
other at the farther extreme of this long four-feet-wide passage, 
depositing the feed of mash or grains, as the case may be, in the 
little hoppers as they proceed, until the two men meet in the 
center of the passage, when the feeding is finished. Fresh 
water is carried through small iron pipes along this entire range 
of pens, and under each drinking-vessel are packed loose stones, 
to a considerable depth, to drain off the spot and avoid damp- 
ness around the inside of the pens. 

This immense laying-house is heated by steam or hot-water 
pipes again, and the apartment is kept at continuous summer 
heat (in the colder seasons) by this means ; whereby Mr. Baker 
has foand, with stimulating food and constant care, that his 
fowls '' lay well in winter time," as well as in the warm months 
of the year. The wire meshing inclosing the open fronts of the 
pens prevents damage from rapacious night vermin, hawks, etc. 
lu each pen there are kept from twenty to twenty-five hens and 
pullets, or about two thousand laying-fowls in all ; and these are 
of all sorts and kinds — well-bred, full-bred, cross-bred, etc., 
— the majority being Asiatics, Leghorns, Spanish, Bucks Coun- 
ty, Colored Dorkings, Houdans, and crosses of all these, most of 
them being good birds, and all well suited to Mr. Baker's pur- 
pose — to wit, laying of eggs only. 

■Every description of food is given them, at times, in variety, 
and plentiful supplies of every kind of grain are always ready 
at hand ; meal of all sorts, granulated bone, " Imperial Egg- 
Food," bran, scraps, shells, shorts, etc., with which their bill of 
fare is alternated, and green food, a little fresh meat, etc., is 
frequently added as well. 

The cleanliness of the entire premises is a triumph. We 
never saw any fowl-houses, large or small, so scrupulously nice, 
from *floor to roof, as were these ; and we are not surprised 
that Mr. Baker is rarely troubled with lice, and has little sick- 
ness, comparatively, among his enormous numbers of fowls, 
young or old. 

Nor far from this building stands the cramming or forcing- 
house, one hundred and twenty feet long by twenty-five feet 
wide, which is au unique affair, and quite novel in this coun- 
try. This house is proportionately extensive and formidable, 



46 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

like the other arrangements on this huge chicken-farm. There 
are erected within it eight round, upright wooden " feeding- 
machines," each having five tiers of small boxes, pigeon-hole 
shaped, for the accommodation of a single fowl in a box, and 
each machine will hold in the five circles running around this 
upright drum, two hundred and ten birds, when deposited 
there for fattening, or forcing flesh upon them for marketing. 

It requires but fifteen to eighteen days of this cramming to 
put the fowls taken from the runs in ordinary trim, into the 
very best possible condition for the table. The extra flesh thus 
put upon them through this process, is not literally fat^ but 
good sound, solid meat ; and old birds, too, are, by this means, 
rendered tender, juicy and palatable, to a surprising degree. 
There can be so prepared in this building, thirty thousand 
chickens per annum. This place is kept dark and cool dur- 
ing the " forcing ; " it is carefully ventilated, and its success 
as an auxiliary to Mr. Baker s general plan, has proved won- 
derful. The mode is similar to that in use in France, but Mr. 
Baker's plan is an improvement upon the French method in 
many of its details. The process of forcing, as adopted at 
Cresskill, is to confine each bird by himself in one of the boxes. 
The legs are strapped to the sides, and the head and neck only 
protrudes from an opening in front. The front of the boxes 
shows like the drawing on page 50. 

Each box holds one fowl. The feeder takes it by the head 
and, thrusting a pipe into its gullet, forces from a mess-tub 
near by, through a flexible tube, the boiled, mashed food pre- 
pared for this purpose. With a single movement the crop is 
filled, and the next bird is similarly served. In less than three 
weeks the weight of fowls or chicks thus treated can be nearly 
doubled ; and although they are never released (except to be 
slaughtered}, after going into harness in this apartment, they 
quicivly become accustomed to this queer mode of feeding, and 
rather enjoy it. Their food is of the most delicate and nutri- 
tious kind, mixed with milk (not water), and they thus fatten 
very readily and kindly. Mr. Baker is now enlarging this house, 
and expects to be able anotlier season to force, say, fifty thousand 
cocks and hens by this well-conceived and really profitable plan. 

From his two thousand laying-fowls Mr. Baker can get but a 
tithe of the eggs he desires, with which to supply the require- 
ments of his immense incubatiug-estabiishment. He uses them 
all, however, as fast as they are laid, and he gets a great many 
in a year, of course. But he remarks : *' I am not a seller, 1 am 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 47 

a buyer, constantly. I offer nothing for sale. All I can do in 
the chicken-raising line is disposed of as soon as the birds are 
big enough to eat. I constantly advertise for eggs in quantity 
for hatching, and I can always dispose of five to ten thousand 
at a time, could I procure them fresh and reliable for incubation." 

He now has the capacity for hatching and rearing in a twelve- 
month a quarter of a million chickens, and he is ambitious to 
double this production, for he is certain of a ready market for 
them all, as the weeks and months go by, annually. There is 
no limit to the product, indeed, when managed upon Mr. Baker's 
system. And, though there be few Americans who will ever 
approach this gentleman, probably, for extent of operation in 
this sort of enterprise, yet, in a more moderate way, where 
hundreds instead of thousands of dollars need to be invested, 
and where the poultry-raiser is contented with hatching tens of 
hundreds of birds for market, instead of tens of thousands, the 
example of Mr. Baker may well and profitably be emulated. 
But it will need brains, patience, culture, tact, experience and 
ready means, as well as a love of the work, to insure success 
upon this plan, even on the far lesser scale. 

The magnitude of this splendid undertaking, as conceived and 
carried out by Mr. Baker, is altogether exceptional in the way 
of raising domestic poultr3\ There is no establishment like this 
in the known world, considered either as to cost, extent or mode 
of management. On a small scale, comparatively, we have had 
steam-hatched and other artificially incubated chickens, both in 
this country and in England, in the past twenty years. But it 
has been left to an enterprising, talented, scientific and wealthy 
American to achieve this crowning triumph in the " art of hatch- 
ing and raising domestic fowls " in large quantities successfully, 
and eventually to good profit. 

This has been accomplished, however, after long and careful 
experiments in every conceivable way ; and the skilled operator 
has not only devoted years of time and constant toil to his work, 
but he has expended and invested in actual cash upon this enter- 
prise, what most of us would esteem a very pretty fortune, by 
itself — seventy to eight}' thousand dollars I 

Although everything about this mammoth establishment is so 
extensive, the simplicity and economy of the entire arrange- 
ments are strildngly apparent. Nothing appears to be lacking 
for the comfort, shelter and accommodation of the fowls, old 
or young ; and an enormous sum of money must evidently have 



48 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

been expended, first and last, to bring this place and its ample 
conveniences into their present acceptable shape at Cresskill. 

The care of the fowls and chicks is continually an object of 
concern to Mr. Baker and his assistants. And though his lay- 
ing-house is so large, (equal to the accommodation of over two 
thousand adult fowls together, in the seventy-five pens), he has 
already prepared the ground for the purpose, and will shortly 
extend his building to about eight hundred feet frontage, adding 
three hundred and fifty feet in length to its present size. This 
will, in all, give space for one hundred and thirty-five pens, to 
accommodate, under one roof, about three thousand five hun- 
di:ed laying-hens and companion roosters. 

Sitting-hens are of no account in Mr. Baker's economy. He 
does not use them. From his large supply of grown fowls he 
obtains all the eggs he can, for incubating artificially ; but he 
purchases, at about three times the ordinary wholesale price, the 
large majority of tlie tens of thousands of eggs he uses in hatch- 
ing and experimenting annually. 

He pays, on the average, five dollars a hundred for all the 
eggs he can have delivered to him in proper condition — fresh- 
laid, sound and hatchable. His correspondence is large, for 
strangers are attracted by his continuously advertised offer of 
this price for all the eggs he can obtain, and find serviceable.* 

The estate of Mr. Baker faces the North River, upon the 
westerly bank, and his country-house and grounds occupy the 



* I have been frequently applied to by correspondents who ask me to furnish them with 
a recipe for saving eggs, for family use— and in response, an infallible mode for preserving 
eggs fresh, and in perfect condition through the year, is given here. This plan is for saving 
eggs for consumption, or sale, onlj' — not for future hatching. In June, Jul}' and August, 
eggs are worth a cent and a half each, on the average. This is the time to " lay them 
down" most economically. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, they bring four to five 
cents apiece. The gain to any family' by this simple and certain means, (or to the egg- 
seller), is apparent. The cost of the process is but nominal. Lay your eggs down in the 
fall, or summer, in a liquid composed as follows : one quart of lime, and one quart of com- 
mon salt, dissolved in eight gallons of boiling water. When cold, put your eggs into this 
liquid, in stone-jars— and they will keep for months. I have tried this method manj' years, 
and have never met with failure. 

A New York tirm writes me recently to enquire " if the use of stone-ware jars is indis- 
pensable V " Yes. The above preparation cannot be successfully used in wooden, or com- 
mon soft earthen-ware vessels— as the chemical properties of the combination I recommend 
does not work well in any jars save those described— and I have experimented with all sorts. 

It may be that new /ta?'<i-wood kegs, or small sized barrels, might answer the purpose 
for preservation, in quantities, for a limited period. But I have found that the shells of 
eggs thus kept for eight to ten months at a time, will grow tender ; and they would not I 
think afterwards bear much rough handling— for example, in transportation. G. P. B. 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 49 

front of his farm, which runs in a gentle slope back from the 
river, upon the highest portion of the well-known " Palisades." 
The face of the perpendicular rocks that form the extreme 
frontage of this point on the Hudson is so squarely upright 
that a stone dropped from the extended hand, over the railing 
before his summer-house, will fall in a direct line to the gravelly 
margin of the river below, a distance of five hundred and 
sixteen feet. 

The premises are comparatively new. That is to say, Mr. 
Baker had selected this tract of land for the purpose to which 
he has devoted it, some years ago. But it was then the "prim- 
itive forest," almost. It is now cleared up, and handsomely 
ornamented — his fowl-houses, incubating-house and chicken- 
breeding arrangements being located at quite a distance from 
the residence, the pretty artificial lake, the tree-dotted lawn, 
gravelled walks, etc. , 

The hen-houses, incubating-house, stables, forcing-house, 
&c., are all severely plain in their style of architecture, but are 
costly, extensive and well-built, throughout ; and the modes 
adopted by Mr. Baker to render the interior of the fowl and 
chicken-rearing premises cool and airy in summer, or warm, 
healthy and comfortable for his vast poultry -families in winter, 
are in all respects the most economical, the most practical, and 
the most substantial for these ranges of buildings that we have 
ever seen devoted to this business. And thus, while there is no 
glitter, no unnecessary show, no lavish expenditure for tinsel or 
ornament, everything is durable, comel}^ and good, for the uses 
tlie proprietor intends it. 

The upper lines of sashes, shown upon our engravings on pages 
42 and 4o, along the tops of both the long ranges of glass houses, 
are so contrived as to be easily raised upright, or to any lesser 
height, over each section or pen where the chicks or fowls are 
confined. This affords ample ventilation at all seasons. The 
sashes are raised and lowered by automatic contrivance, and the 
entire buildings, in which both old and young stock pass their 
days, can thus be quickly and effectually aired, at any hour in 
the year. 

We might add pages of description to what we have herein 
clearly set down regarding the minor details of this colossal 
fowl-breeding establishment. But sufficient is now recorded to 
give the reader a clear idea of Mr. Baker's plans and the general 
workings of his marvelously well-constructed scheme in whole- 
sale chicken-raising. As a stride in modern improvement 



50 



RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 




AN UI'IiN SECTION Of Tllli GKEAT IN( IMIATOI:. 




SAMPLES OF BOXED FOWLS, SECXJirED FOK FATTEKING IN 
THB FOECINQ ROOM. 



IN QUANTITY FOE MARKET. 



51 



towards the indicated end, this vast undertaking has no parallel ; 
and it may safely be assumed that Mr. Baker's success, in every 
aspect, is a marvel. 

The time of Mr. Baker and his assistants is fully occupied in- 
side and outside of his chicken-houses and incubating-rooms ; so 
much so, that it is latterly found inconvenient to receive and 
entertain stransrers there. Mr. Baker has nothing to sell from 



a^jtamx »ww .Ml ■■MA .1^^.^hJ^»:^ll.^J^ih.;Mg^g=^gr■K^■v;r.t;l»-U'-^aJlm^Ham.^^lall^BaJl«^^ 

a 




73 



'N\'± 




GKOUND-PLAN REAR OF PENS, SHOWING TRAMWAY AND BACK STONE-WALL. 



52 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 

his place. He has already hatched out this year several thou- 
sand chicks in his immense incubators, which are now doing 
finely, in tlie large brooding-house. He has growing, in a range 
of boxes hung around the entire length of the brooding-house, 
beds of lettuce, which he has cut with long shears, to distribute 
daily among the 3'oung birds — a luxury they enjoy intensely. 

After a careful survey of the premises, and noting what has 
been done and what is still in prospect at Cresskill, we conclude 
that Mr. William C. Baker stands head and shoulders above us 
all in America as a poultr3^-raiser, and that his enormous chicken- 
farm is the largest and most perfect institution of its kind ever 
attempted, or ever yet consummated successfully, on either side 
of the Atlantic. 

The above account is both interesting and curious. The 
poultr}' fraternity of this country Avill be surprised alike at the 
magnitude of tliis undertaking of Mr. Baker, and at its success. 
Nothing like it exists elsewhere on earth, to-day. And the as- 
tonishment is enhanced, that so enormous an establishment for 
the raising of chickens is found in America ! 

A few years ago, it will be remembered that the agricultural 
journals of this country published a long detailed account of 
the immense fowl-houses and incubating arrangements for the 
production of chickens and eggs in countless numbers, artifi- 
cially, of one Monsieur Be Sora near Paris, France. 

After this fabulous account had had its run tlirough the print- 
ed journals, and the curiosity of the public had been vastly 
excited over so curious and astounding a record, it turned out 
that this thrice magnified tale, " a thousand times o'er-told," 
had no real foundation at all, in fact! There was no such 
poultry-establishment in existence, as " De ISora's." There was 
no such fowl-hatcliing estate in France. There was no such 
individual as De Sora. The whole story, from beginning to 
ending, was a canard. 

But in the record now made, which is taken from the pages 
of the Hartford, Conn., " Poultry World " for May, 1877, there 
is accuracy and verity. We have examined Mr. Baker's great 
estate, and we have been gratified and surprised — as others in- 
terested in fowl-breeding matters have been — at its vastness, 
its economy, its feasibility, and its entire success. 

In a foot-note to ^Dage 46 of this book, we have recorded for 
the benefit of our readers a method for preserving eggs, all the 
year round, where they are used from time to time, for family 



IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. 53 

consumption. This is a simple but certain way to keep eggs 
for future household uses — but they cannot thus be availed of 
for hatching purposes, after immersion in. the liquid prescribed, 
since the preparation permeates tlie shells, more or less, render- 
ing them tender, comparatively, after any considerable length 
of time. 

We deem this closing chapter on the " raising of fowls and 
eggs for market, in quantity," a very valuable addition to our 
present treatise. And although, as the writer in the " Poultry 
World " observes, Mr. Baker will scarcely meet with competi- 
tors, in the present century, upon so vast a scale as he conducts 
chicken-raising, yet his method of managing the business settles 
the hitherto long mooted problems that poultry can be raised to 
profit, artificially — and that one thousand or five thousand 
fowls can be kept and reared (as he does it) under a single roof. 

This experiment, so successfully carried through by Mr. 
Baker, has been determined only after a long and earnest trial. 
The amount of money expended by him during the several 
years that he has been quietl}" and unostentatiously pursuing 
his labors in the work he undertook, has been very large. He 
has met with disappointment, oftentimes, and his persistence 
has been remarkable. But iiis ample means, his peculiar tastes, 
and his love of the occupation have served to aid him in the 
achievement of this triumph. 

He has demonstrated very clearly that unlimited quantities 
of cliickens can be artificially hatched, and afterwards success- 
fully reared to marketable condition, without the use of hen- 
mothers. The difficulty of raising chicks, after getting them 
safely out of their shells, is what has troubled -all who have 
hitherto attempted this work upon a large scale — more es- 
pecially when such eftbrt is undertaken in the cold seasons of 
our variable climate. 

Wliatever may come of the record we have now made re- 
garding Mr. Baker's success, it aftbrds us great pleasure to add 
this interesting account in these pages. And we feel very con- 
fident that all who read our present treatise on " raising fowls 
and eggs in quantity for market," will be gratified with this 
valuable addition thus made to our book ; from a study of 
which the ambitious poulterer may learn much that down to 
the present day has been generally unknown and unappreci- 
ated. 



54 EAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 



A FEW GOOD RULES FOR FOWL-RAISERS. 

The limits of this treatise are nearly reached. We must close these paf,'e3, and will do 
this in recommending to the reader the following rules, which we have found valuable in 
our own practice, and which we deem it essential should be observed, in the main, by all 
who would rear good chickens economically, healthily, and profitably. 

First. — Whatever varieties of fowls you breed, begin aright, by procuring good stock 
at the outset, and purchase it of known reliable men. 

Second. — When you obtain such stock, keep it and breed it clean, and do not attempt 
experiments by "crossing" or mingling it with other varieties, if 3'ou wish to produce 
uniformly the sort you have laid out your money for. 

Third. — If you are a novice in fowl-breeding, commence with one sort only. You 
will find this advice valuable. When you have had a year's experience with this, try 
another — if you like. But never attempt (if you are a beginner) to keep and rear two 
or three varieties at first. 

Fourth. — Never take it for granted that all the chickens or fowls you see portrayed in 
the papers are exactly "\vMt you can purchase from the advertisers. Such "fancy" 
pictures often represent- individual specimens, but you will anticipate too much if you 
expect to get such perfect fowls as you sometimes see delineated. 

Fifth. — In the hatching season, set your hens as early in the year as you can, safely 
— considering the character of the weather. The earlier you can get the spring chicks 
out, the better — provided you take proper care of them after they are hatched. For the 
fall and winter, the first birds produced in the year are always the best. 

Sixth. — The above rnle will apply particularly to those who raise fowls for eggs or 
marketing — since the early pullets will lay usually during the following winter, and the 
young cocks at Christmas will make finer roasters. These are the chickene that mature 
first, and lay first, naturally — whatever the breed may be. 

Seventh. — Choose the evening in which to set j'our hens. The advantage in this 
method is found in the fact that the fowl alwa3's remains more quietl}^ upon the nest at 
first. And twelve hours in the dark, after she is thus placed, accustoms her to the eggs so 
that she will prove more steady and contented afterwards. 

Eighth. At no season will it answer to neglect to destroy the parasitic vermin that 
infest the hen-houses, the nests, and the perches. These pests must be kept under, or 
you have no comfort, little regular health among the birds, and few eggs from your 
stock, however well you may feed them. 

Ninth.— Remember that if you can give young fowls and chicks a good range, in pref- 
erence to limiting them to small contracted runs, they will do fifty per cent, better while 
they are growing up. And if you are obliged to keep them in limited quarters, their 
f)remises should be kept clean, and they should be fed with varied cooked and green food, 
and boiled vegetables, etc., as well as upon grains. 

Tenth. — Do not assume to know all about raising good chickens, until you have 
learned how it is done. Begin modestly, therefore — read, and study up to your work 
and ascertain by careful observation and experiment what is best to be done. 

Eleventh. — Apportion the dimension of your hen-houses to the size of your flocks. 
Never try to keep a hundred fowls in the space that only twenty or thirty should occupy, 
for their comfort. Ventilate your houses well, at all times' — in cold or hot weather. 

TwELETH. — Prevent the presence of illness among your fowls by good care, judicious 
feeding, and necessary shelter for them. If they get sick, dose them as little as is need- 
ful. A domestic hen or cock requires little medicine to restore them to health, if they 



IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 



55 



get out of trim. When ill, first ascertain wliat is the matter with them. Then give them 
the right kind of treatment to cure their ailment. 

TiiiiJTEKNTH. —In making j'our first purchases of either eggs, chicks or fowls —if you 
are in search of the best of any given variety, go to head-quarters for what you desire. 
You will have to pay a little more for your original stock, perhaps, to begin with. You 
thus obtain good birds, or reliable eggs for incubation ; and these will always give you 
the best satisfaction. 

FoUKTEENTii. — If you prefer "crossed" fowls, and are ambitious to own only such as 
are suitable for marketing purposes, or as common layers, there is no necessity to pay 
''fancy" prices for them. There are plenty of this stock to be had at moderate rates, 
and for the uses above indicated, these are quite as profitable as any. 

Fifteenth. — Whatever you commence with, provide your stock with comfortable 
quarters; feed them judiciously, and regularly; keep your premises cleanly, and afford 
the fowls good ventilation when housed; let them have clean water for drink, and sound 
grain for food; keep them free from vermin, and "doctor" them only when they need 
such service. Thus you may succeed in your wislics, and thus only can domestic fowls 
be bred or kept to advantage. 

These brief directions will help the amateur to hatch, keep, and rear good chickens 
advantageously, economically, and satisfactorily. It is easy to do this in the right way. 
It will not prove profitable if attempted carelessly, and conducted negligently. 

It should be understood that when well done, no live stock pays so well, in proportion 
to the outlay required, as does poultry — whether it bo cultivated as fancj' stock or for its 
marketable product in eggs and chickens. But, like any other business undertaking, this 
requires attention, and the exercise of judgment, to render it successful and profitable. 

We submit the advice contained in tliis little volume to those who may feel a desire to 
embark in fowl-raising, with some confidence — since we have succeeded fairly, ourself, 
through such practice. And this brings us for the present to the End. 



H 



HARTFORD, CONN. H. H. Stoddard, Editor, 

Superbly illustrated in 1877 with original 
E^=" CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES .^^t 

of modern standard Poultry ! An elegant monthly 
Matraziiie, quarto size, for the Fancier, Family and 
Market Poulterer. $1.25 per year, postpaid. $1.00 
after first year's subscription. Or, $2.00 onl}', in- 
cliulinjj our new artistic original feature of 

Twelve Beautiful Colored Plates 

to be issued in 1877. Present subscribers are charged 
but 75 cents in addition to what thej' have paid, 
($1.25) for the 12 colored pictures— to be mailed 
tiiem, postpaid. This is the most elegant series of 
lite pictures, in colors, ever produced in America. 



GERMAN 







GERMAN 




THE STANBARD SPECIFIC EEMEBY FOR 



oil C; O 3VE 3VE O 3M 35™ O "W Xj u^. X Xj S» . 



THE H-ERMAM ROUP FII^LbS^ 

(Kunkel's Original Recipe) 

Have deservedly acquired a world-wide reputation throui;h their extraordinary EfScacy, Adapt- 
edness, Operative and Kestorative Qualities, where they are judiciously administered to 

OE,DINAEY SICK FOWLS! 

* It is a patent fact that the insidious disease known among poultry men as Roup is the most 
troublesome, and in its a^sravated forms one of the most destructive, or fatal, of all Fowl disorders. 
But tlie combination of HEALTH-GIVING IiNGREDIENTS embodied in the peculiar pre- 
scription from which the universally approved and proniptl}'- effective 

GERM^]Sr HOUP PILLS 

are manufactured, has proved indeed a wondrously successful and reliable discovery, that in thou- 
sands of instances has been voluntarily proclaimed by prominent and experienced fowl Fanciers, 
Breeders, Amateurs, Dealers, and Poulterers, in every section of the United States and the 
Canadas, to be f r a.i;eneral Fowl medicine UNRIVALLED, as Avell as altogether UNEX- 
CELLABLE! And although some feeble imitations have occasionally been "foisted upon the 
over-credulous, these have quickly been forgotten, when the GENUINE ARTICLE has been 
procured and has been given a single trial, amongst their failing or diseased fowls. 

After five years of steady and UNEXAMPLED SUCCESS in the hands of Mr. Fidel 
KuNKKL, (the original producer of this superior fowhmcdicino in America), the subscriber has be- 
come the Propriet"or of the now celebrated, convenient, and useful 



&ERM AM 



UP FILIaS;, 



and they will be manufactured under his supervision hereafter, at Hartford, Conn., where all 
orders for supplies at wholesale (or by mail for single parcels) should be addressed. 

These Pilis should be kept constantly on hand by all fowl-raisers— since their birds are liable 
any day to be attacked witli incipient ronp; and this medicine is a positive cure for the disease, 
n administered seasonably — as hundreds of constant buyers most willingly testify. 

jj^^ Assents are now Wanted for good locations where the territory is not already engaged. 
There are tlu.u-aiids (if towns in the United States m which no Agent is as yet established, where 
a live man can make a Ecoodthinir among the poultry breeders wiili an authorised agency for the sale 
of tlie-e reliable Uoup Pills, which take puecedence over anything of this kind ever before known. 

4it*,K Sample Boxes mailed, postpaid, to any address, for 50 cents. Larger sized boxes (con- 
taining more than double the quantity) for $1.00. To Agents and the Trade, wholesale rates 
will be given — affording them a very liberal margin on sales effected. For full explanatory Cir- 
culars, Testimonials, etc., address 

H. H. STODDARD, 

Editor of the "Poultry World," HARTFORD, CONX. 



< 



GERMAN 




PILLS. 







GERMAN 




PILLS, 



THE STANDAED SPECIFIC REMEDY FOR 



THE! GSRMAN ROUP PILLS^ 

(Kunkel's Original Recipe) 

Have deservedly acquired a world-wide reputation through their extraordinary Efficacy, Adapt- 
edness, Operative and Restorative Qualities, where they are judiciously administered to 

ORDINARY SICK FOWLS! 

It is a patent fact tiiat the insidious disease known among poultry men as Roup is the most 
troublesome, and in i:s aggravated forms one of the must destructive, or fatal, of all Fowl disorders. 
But the combination of HEALTH-GIVING liVGKEDIENTS embodied in the peculiar pre- 
scription from which the universallv approved and jiromptly effective 

aERM^jSr ROUP PILLS 

are manufactured, has proved indeed a wondrously successful and reliable discovery, that in thou- 
sands of instances has bjen voluntarily proclaimed l)y jirominent and experienced ffiwl Fauciers, 
Breeders, Amateurs, Dealers, and' Poulterers, in every section of the United States and the 
Cauadas, to be f r a general Fowl medicine UNRIVALLED, as well as altogether UNEX- 
CELL ABLE! And although some feeble imitations have occasionally been foisted up(jn the 
over-credulons, these have (|uickly been forgotten, when the GENUINE ARTICLE has been 
jirocured and has been given a single trial, amongst their failing or diseased fowls. 

After five years of steady and UNEXAMPLED SUCCESS in the hands of Mr. Fidel 
KuNKKL, (the'original producer of this superior fowl-medicine in America), the subscriber has be- 
come the Proprietor of the now celebrated, convenient, and useful 

GBRMAN ROUP PILLS^ 

and they will be manufactured under his supervision hereafter, at Hartford, Coun., where all 
orders for supplies at wholesale (or by mail for single parcels) should be addressed. 

These Pills should be kept constantly on hand by all fowl-raisers — since their birds are liable 
any day to be attacked with incipient raup ; and this medicine is a positive cure for the disease. 
if administered seasonalily — as hundreds of constant buyers most willingly testify. 

i$^" Agents are now Wanted for good locations where the territory is not already engaged. 
There are thousands of towns in the United States in which no Agent is as yet established, where 
a live man can make a good thing among the poultry breeders with an authorised agency for the sale 
of these reliable Iloup Pills, which take precedence over anything of this kind ever before known. 

^*,^ Sample Boxes mailed, postpaid, to anv address, for 50 cents. Larger sized boxes (con- 
taining more than double the quantity) for $1.00. To Agents and the Trade, wholesale rates 
will be given — affording them a very liberal margin on sales effected. For full explanatory Cir- 
culars, Testimonials, etc., address 

H, H. STODDARD, 

Editor of the "Poultry World," HARTFORD, CONN. 



CHKOMO JCDITIOIV 



I»Tl.IOE! 30 Oi:3XrTJS. 



RAISING 



IN QUANTITY 



HOmr TO DO IT. 




WITH DESIGNS FOR FOWL-HOUSES, COOPS, RUNS, ic. 



Bv GEO. P. BURXHAM. 

Al.rHf>R OF "diseases of POCLTRV," "secrets I.V FOWX BREEDING," THE 
" GAME FOWL," ETC. 



IXj3jXJSmi.-A.T7ESX>. 



MELROSE, MASS. 
1877. 



<-''ipyrit,'ht.-;d Ijy G. 1'. lirH.NHAM, 187 



'D 



GET THE BEST, AND THE SAFEST/FOR FOWLS OR CHICKS. 



TRADB HARK. 




lATENTBD FEB. a4, 1875. 



IMPERIAL 

EGG FOOD! 

WILL MAKE HENS LAY. 

ri^HE reputation of tliis article has been so vapidly increasing for three years, 
I that it is now mi common use by the best poultrymen and farmers through - 
JL out the countrv, and is largely kept for sale by dealers and agents. We 
continue to seutl hy mail to ai.y parties ordering, at the usual prices : 

50 Cents for Trial Packages; $1.00 for Full-Sized Packages; 

and our FIVE. POUND BOX BY EXPRESS, freight paid by the pur- 
chaser, $2 00. Tliis lives an opportunity for persons to buy the article in 
localities where t!ic 1 >!Uggist or Grocer does not have it in stock. We claim 
for it, and have innumtr,tble testimonials to the facts, that it will Largely 
Increase Kgsr- Prod action, Streng-then Weak or Drooping* 
Fowls, Promote the Healtliv Growth and Developement of 
all varieties of Poultry, and insure fine condition and smooth plumage. 

DP* OH. "srcyTJTsrcr oxxxc^zsijs 

this preparation has proved invaluable, promoting growth and early feathering, 
while sick and drooping chickens are unknown, where the " Egg Food " is 
given regularly, according to directions. 

It has a direct effect on the liver and digestive organs, readily assimilating 
with tlie osseous or bony structure, thus, giving hardiness and vigor at the 
most critical period of their existence. 

.A-XT-oxd CJlxo^i^ Xxxa.±ta.-t±ozxs» ! 

Our Trade Mark is on each package of the GENUINE article. 
With the indorsement of geiitleuu'n so well known to the Farmers and the 
Poulteiers of this country as are 

I. K FELCH, CHAS. H. EDMOIDS, C. C. PLAI8TED, 

S. J. BESTOR, H. T. SPERRY, JAS. M. LAMBING, 
and hosts of others, the fraternity can be assured of its value. We will send a 
circular containing testimonials to any one, on application. Liberal prices are 
given to parties who desire to sell ; and a little time given to it will pay a hand- 
some profit to an agent, in any part of this country. 



__ As a sjjceial inducement to individual purchasers, who have not yet tried the 
Imperial Egg Food— we will send free, (with each $2.00 package ordered, ) to all 
buyers, a copv of G. P. Burnhani's latest woric on poultry culture, just out, entitled 
" Raising I^'owls and Egi^s for Market:" a capital original Treatise on this sub- 
ject, handsomely illuntrtiteil with phins of Foml-huu&es, Chicken-coops, Yards and Runs, 
etc. A most desirable and practical little work, from the pen of this veteran author. 
Full particulars mailed on application to 



ALLEN &; SHERWOOD, Proprietors, 



29 Pearl Street, Hartford, Conn. 



>t^ ' 




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a;:!;: 



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